'I was born with a different kind of morality. The morality of an animal - of a crow or a fox or an owl - and not of a normal human being.'
-- Peter Swanson
I sat beside mother; my fluffy white tail curled around me as I considered Uka's words carefully. I never told anyone just how I felt; or how my whole world seemed to be getting heavier and darker with every passing day. Or how I have lost so much and abandoned the rest.
No child should have to suffer this much!
I felt mother nuzzle me with her furry muzzle as she softly spoke "You need to answer the goddess' question, Sora."
"Yes, mother." I answered as I then asked Uka "Just how much of me remains human?" I felt mother glancing up, wondering the same. She remembered my stories of my trials in the Yōkai's city and the village of the foxes; but she never believed them.
In fact, she did not want to believe them. Afraid of the sacrifice coming back to haunt her. For upon my death bed, she had made a bargain with Inari to serve the goddess in both life and in death. It was why she now appeared as a fox; forever trapped as a kitsune just to return my life to me.
The Inari goddess glanced down at me as she then said with most certainty "Just one small ember in a roaring Bon fire."
"So, he's 99 percent kitsune!" mom's voice cried.
"As I have mentioned before, Mae had stolen the last of his human essence when he was one nine years old. Even now, Mae Tamamo lives the life of a mortal human, whereas he must live the life of an immortal kitsune."
"Immortal?!" as mother bristled! "Kitsune's are not immortal! Only the nine tails are!" The goddess did not at first comment as her eyes revealed all the truth.
"Mae Tamamo was once a nine tail kitsune." her words chilled the room "Only a nine tail can reach inside someone's soul realm and steal their ki. Lesser foxes must possess another living being to consume their ki."
"Wait?!" I was so befuddled "I am a nine tail!?"
"Indeed." she nodded.
"But...I only had one tail." I recall.
"Of course." she grinned "Kitsune children only have one to two tails. Any more, and their little bodies could not process the flow of elemental magic. But as a kitsune ages into adulthood, they regain all of their missing tails, returning them back to their former power. You have just come of age, and now your former power is also returning."
"My son is a nine tail!" mom said, amazed.
"Indeed." Uka nodded.
"My depression..." I wondered "...is it because I am a nine tail now?"
"Yes and no." Uka quickly answered. "This might be difficult to understand, so I will try to simplify it."
Uka asks for one of the foxes to come to her, as she seems to manipulate its star ball, turning it dark for a moment as the fox immediately falls asleep and begins feeding off of the energy surrounding it.
"As you can now see for yourself, most kitsunes need to consume ki in order to stay alive. Even us gods are not immune to their vampirism. Only the hoshi-no-tama serves as a focal point for absorbing ki from nature and avoiding killing other spirits and mortals." "However, only the nine-tails can actually survive by breathing in the ki from the energy of the spirit realm. That is why you are probably feeling much better now, right?"
'She seems to have a point there.' I realize 'Since I have been here, it feels like the darkness and heaviness has lifted from me. I feel so much happier and lighter.'
YOU ARE READING
The World Unseen
FantasySora's life is turned upside down when he is teleported from a speeding train to the Spirit World by a devious fox that has stolen his KI. Now, trapped as a kitsune in a strange world of monsters, time is running out for him. If he does not find a w...
